Transport Mechanism in Schottky Barriers

Several recent publications have shown that single crystal 

SBSCs may exhibit AMI conversion efficiencies comparable to p-n junction cells when a thin interfacial layer is present at the metal 

The principal current transport mechanism in SBs in which little or no interfacial layer is present is by thermionic emission of majority carriers over the energy barrier. Under small forward bias and no illumination the current voltage relationship is exponential and is given by 

Jp and Jq are forward bias and reverse saturation current densities 

Equations 1 and 2 are equally valid for n or p-type SBs where cj) is replaced by c ) or cj) respectively and the appropriate value or A is used. It shoula be remembered however that for n-type SBs the metal is biassed positively with respect to the semiconductor and for p-type SBs the semiconductor is biassed positively with respect to the metal. Andrews and Lepselter have determined A at room temperature for n and p-type silicon in which the impurity concentration was 10 m and have shown that it remains essentially constant at 1.1 x 10 A m and 3.2 x 10  

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